Third party delivery of preferred perishable content

ABSTRACT

A user can specify particular news, weather, traffic, or other perishable content received on a particular Internet radio station or other media channel. The user can customize the station so that wherever the user is currently located, he can receive perishable content related to a preferred geographic location or other category. In some embodiments, a user can specify that a customized station plays local news from one city at the top of the hour, traffic from another city at 10 minutes past the hour, and music or other content at other times. The user can also customize the station to select the perishable content, or other original content, from the personal libraries of specified users. Thus, a user can customize not only the genre of content or select a particular local station, but can also modify the perishable content provided by the customized station.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.13/532,580, filed on Jun. 25, 2012, and entitled “CUSTOMIZING PERISHABLECONTENT OF A MEDIA CHANNEL,” which is a continuation of U.S. Utilityapplication Ser. No. 12/229,515, filed on Aug. 22, 2008, and entitled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A RADIO-LIKE EXPERIENCE,” which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/957,955, filed on Aug.24, 2007, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

This application contains material that is subject to copyrightprotection. Such material may be reproduced by any person exactly as itappears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records. Thecopyright owner otherwise reserves all rights to such material.

FIELDS

The systems and methods disclosed herein generally relate to the fieldof content customization and distribution.

BACKGROUND

Content consumers may have collections of media content, such aslibraries of music. Those collections may be stored in local computers,or in remote servers, or in portable media devices. Consumers may alsohave arranged their content into playlists to create a certain listeningexperience. Moreover, consumers may have various content managementtools and media players to arrange and play their content. Consumers donot, however, typically have the resources, skill or experience tocreate professional-sounding or radio-like listening experiences.Similarly, consumer-generated playlists typically provide a moremonotonous listening experience, i.e., an all-music listeningexperience. And, consumers typically do not have the time or resourcesto add perishable content to their listening experience, such as newsupdates or weather reports.

Radio broadcasters, on the other hand, typically have the resources,skill and experience to create professional-sounding and radio-likelistening experiences, e.g., radio broadcasts. Such broadcasts mayprovide a variety of content arranged so as to maintain consumerinterest. For example, a jazz music radio broadcast may play a selectionof music by a variety of jazz artists having diverse jazz styles. Thejazz music may be interspersed with a generally pleasing mix of radiohost commentary, advertisements, weather reports, news reports, stationjingles, and the like. Also, each song or music element in the jazzbroadcast may be mixed and edited to provide generally pleasingtransitions, e.g., cross-fades and voiceovers. However, because radiobroadcasters generally develop broadcast programs for a large audience,the broadcast programs may not be as fully pleasing or customized to anindividual listener as the listener would like.

Some broadcasters provide an Internet broadcast that allows consumers toselect content to listen to, whether by artist, genre, style, and thelike, yet still comply with various regulations, e.g., those promulgatedunder the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), and rightsmanagement schemes, e.g., digital rights management (“DRM”). However,such broadcasts may suffer from the same sort of monotony associatedwith consumer-created playlists, and may fail to allow any furtherlistener customization.

Additionally, many organizations typically do not have the resources orexpertise to distribute content to their constituents. Organizationsneed a way to distribute content to their constituents in such a way andby such means that the constituent will receive and consume the contentin a timely manner. For example, if a business desires to distribute anaudio message from an executive, the business may circulate an emailwith information on how a user may listen to the message, e.g., by goingonline and downloading the message for playback, and urge the consumerto do so. However, many constituents may view those steps as too much ofa hassle, and simply not listen to the message. Similarly, a churchorganization may desire a better way to distribute bulletin items orsermons.

Thus, there is a need for better systems and methods for engagingcontent consumers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a functional diagram of various contentdistribution system components.

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of a system for providing a radio-likeexperience.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for a userto register for access to a content distribution system.

FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for a userto initiate customizing a radio-like station.

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for a userto customize a radio-like station.

FIG. 6 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for a userto customize perishable content scheduling for a radio-like station.

FIG. 7A depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for auser to customize perishable content scheduling for a radio-likestation.

FIG. 7B depicts an embodiment of a portion of a screen that may beprovided for a user to customize perishable content scheduling for aradio-like station.

FIG. 8 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for a userto manage a plurality of customized radio-like stations.

FIG. 9 depicts an embodiment of an interface that may be provided for auser to specify an RSS feed for inclusion in a radio-like station.

FIG. 10 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for auser to specify commercial listening preferences.

FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for auser to select pre-configured radio-like stations.

FIG. 12 depicts an embodiment of a screen that may be provided for auser to obtain a content player and specify devices for content playeruse.

FIG. 13 depicts an embodiment of a content player interface.

FIG. 14 depicts the settings menu of the embodiment of FIG. 13.

FIGS. 15A-15C depict an embodiment of interfaces that may be providedfor a user to manage content player settings.

FIG. 16 depicts the synchronization menu of the embodiment of FIG. 13.

FIG. 17 depicts an exemplary content player architecture.

FIG. 18 depicts an embodiment of content player interface for a mobilephone.

FIG. 19 depicts the settings menu of the embodiment of FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 depicts the synchronization menu of the embodiment of FIG. 18.

FIG. 21 depicts an embodiment of a functional diagram of a contentdistribution system services component.

FIG. 22 depicts an exemplary personal media library architecture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, the disclosed systems and methods provide a way to engagecontent consumers with a more personalized, and more radio-like andprofessional-sounding listening experience.

From a content consumer's point of view, a media content managementsystem and media player allow a user to choose to listen to content fromvarious content sources, e.g., the user's personal music library, asubscription-based third party music library, a radio broadcaster'sperishable content or other programming, a library of user-generatedcontent, and third-party advertisement repository, other third-partysources, etc. Thus, for example, a listener may create a listeningexperience that includes approximately 50% jazz and 50% rock music froma jazz radio station and a rock music repository, respectively, andincludes local news updates from a radio station in Atlanta, Ga., sportsupdates from a radio station in New York, N.Y., and weather and trafficreports from a radio station in the listener's home town. A listener mayconsume that content using a variety of devices, e.g., a PC, a portablemedia player, a PDA, a mobile phone, etc.

From the point of view of a content provider, a content distributionsystem may link together various content sources, such as thosedescribed above, and use content from one or more of those varioussources to create pleasing listening experiences customized forlisteners. A content provider may, for example, be a radio broadcasteror other organization having expertise in scheduling content to engageand hold a listener's interest. A radio broadcaster may, for example,rely on professional radio broadcast scheduling software to create suchan experience with content from disparate sources, and may offer suchcontent at various subscription levels, e.g., a free subscription levelthat includes a certain number of advertisements per hour, and afee-based subscription level that includes no advertisement and allowsinclusion of user-generated content. The content provider may, forexample, schedule a playlist with music from a third-party musiclibrary, advertisements from an ad repository, weather reports from aradio station in the listener's home town, commentary from anationally-syndicated radio host, and music mashups from the listener'spersonal content library. Thus, in one embodiment, a content providermay provide a radio-like listening experience customized for aparticular listener.

The foregoing general description is merely exemplary, of course, andshould be viewed simply as a partial overview of the features andfunctionality of the systems and methods disclosed herein. Additionaldetails, features and functionalities will become apparent below.Nevertheless, the foregoing description serves as a useful startingpoint in describing various preferred systems, graphical userinterfaces, content sources, distribution methods and other aspects.

Functional Overview

In one embodiment, a content distribution system may comprise a suite ofcomponents that may provide a customized and radio-like listeningexperience to listeners. In one embodiment, the suite may comprise (1) aservices component, (2) a subscription-based content component, (3) apersonal media library component, (4) a content player component and (5)a publishing component. Functional segmentation of the contentdistribution system may be used to facilitate design, development,deployment, and reuse of system functionality. That is, the contentdistribution may be designed around a set of services that are assembledto interoperate as various applications. An exemplary functionaloverview of each component is provided below.

A services component may provide a centralized location for accessingcommon content distribution system business logic and data storagefunctionality that is needed by all content distribution systemcomponents. These services may be grouped into seven functional areas:Content Services, Customer Services, Logging Services, Content PlayerServices, Personal Publishing Services, Scheduling Services, and DataServices. Content Services may provide the business logic storagerelated to content files and content categorization for both music (andother content) and perishable content sources and categorizationcriteria. Customer Services may provide the business logic related toregistered users, their accounts and historical listening data. LoggingServices may provide the business logic storage related to internallogging needed for system monitoring and configuration. Content PlayerServices may provide the business logic needed to properly synchronizecontent players with the listening experiences configured by users. Alluser access to content distribution system services from externalsources may be directed through Player Services. Personal PublishingServices may provide an interface for communication with the publishingcomponent. Scheduling Services may provide the business logic related toradio station schedules. Data Services may provide for the retrieval andpersistence of data related to the content distribution systems. Theservices component is discussed in more detail below.

A subscription-based content component may provide an end user systemthat delivers a radio-like experience utilizing a subscription basedcontent model that may include content from third-party contentproviders. Users may create and maintain their accounts through abrowser-based GUI or website provided by the content distributionsystem. The website may allow users to configure various radio-like“stations” by selecting the music, other content and perishable contentto create a particular listening experience. When registering for anaccount, a user may subscribe to a free or fee-based account. A freesubscription may allow a user to participate but may require a user toperiodically listen to commercials. A fee-based subscription, on theother hand, may provide a user with the option of excluding commercials.Content delivery may be configured administratively by the contentdistribution system operator. For example, a content distribution systemoperator may be a radio broadcaster that operates one or more radiobroadcasting stations.

In one embodiment, music content may be provided by a third party musicprovider, and may be downloaded or streamed directly from the thirdparty source. Commercial content may be provided by a third party, or bythe operator of the content distribution system. Users may select acategory (or categories) of commercials that they would prefer to hear.If a user does not select any commercial preferences, the commercialsthey hear may be randomly selected from all available categories.Commercials may comprise audibly-manifested media elements,visibly-manifested media elements, or a combination of the two. Thus,for example, a listener may view a commercial on a PC-instantiated mediaplayer while also listening to that commercial. Or, a listener may viewa commercial (e.g., a scrolling banner ad, a music album cover with “BuyNow” flashing over it, or a video clip) on a media player whilelistening to music.

Perishable content may be provided by the content distribution systemoperator, or by a third party. If, for example, the third party is aradio broadcaster, perishable content categorization information may bemaintained within Content Services, but the content itself may bemaintained by the radio broadcaster (e.g., at its participating radiostations). Users may define perishable content themes that describe thetype of perishable content and the frequency it should be injected intoradio-like “station.”

When a user creates new station preferences or edits their stationpreferences, Scheduling Services may create or update a schedule(playlist) of audio content for that station based on the user'sspecifications. These schedules may be stored until downloaded orstreamed to a user and played by a content player.

From the content distribution system website, a user may download acontent player to desktop computers, laptop computers, or variousportable content playback devices. The number and types of contentplayers that a user can download may be configurable. For example, oncecertain limits are reached, existing content players may be deactivatedbefore additional content players may be downloaded or re-enabled.

Once a user has established an account, configured stations, anddownloaded a player, the user may synchronize the player and beginlistening to her radio-like “stations.” The synchronization process mayobtain the station schedules from the server, and download or streamcontent, e.g., music, commercial content and perishable content, to theplayer. As users listen to their stations, the content player may checkfor the most recent versions of their configured perishable content andplay it.

Upon subsequent synchronizations, the station schedules on a contentplayer may be updated by replacing the played portion with new content.During the synchronization, station playback history may be returned tothe content distribution system for review by a user via the website,and made available for overall application reporting purposes. Whensynchronization is complete, Schedule Services may generate additionalschedules to provide content to replace what has been played on theplayer. New schedule content will be available for subsequent downloads.

A personal media library (PML) component may provide an end user systemthat delivers a radio-like listening experience that includes the user'sown personal media in addition to other content, e.g., perishablecontent. Preferably, a user to legally own a collection of content, andhave categorized and managed that content. Thus, a user may configurestations using their own criteria for the content.

In one embodiment, content may be limited to the users personal medialibrary. This approach may provide a way to deliver a radio-likeexperience without the relatively high costs of paying for third-partycontent. In that embodiment, a user may subscribe as a PML-onlysubscriber.

Similar to the subscription-based content component, a PML-only user mayconnect to a content distribution system website and register as aPML-only user. In one embodiment, a PML-specific website may beprovided. A user may set up a free or fee-based subscription. A freesubscription may allow a user to participate in the PML experience, butrequire that the user periodically listen to commercials. By selectingthe fee based subscription, the user may elect to not listen tocommercials.

In one embodiment, a user may download PML software to their computerafter registration. Preferably, a user may create/edit content playlistswithin a media management application, such as iTunes or Windows MediaPlayer. A user may then create stations based upon those playlists, orby audio file properties (e.g., as defined by Windows Media Player, orby a tempo analysis done by the Selector® music scheduling program fromRCS). Generally, stations defined from Windows Media Player playlistsmay be static in nature and may play the same songs in the same order asdefined by the playlist. Stations defined by audio file properties mayrandomly choose songs that match the defined audio file characteristics.

PML commercial content may be provided by the content distributionsystem operator, and may be configured administratively. Preferably,users may not select the types of commercials they want to hear; rather,the commercials may be randomly selected from all available commercialspots. In other embodiments, however, a user may select commerciallistening preferences as with the subscription-based content component.

With respect to perishable content, a PML-only subscription may allowusers to define perishable content themes. A perishable content thememay describe the type of perishable content and the frequency with whichit should be played. In one embodiment, perishable content andcategorization information may be maintained and obtained from the PMLsoftware or on a publishing server (discussed in more detail below).

After a user has defined his stations and perishable content themes, hecan download a content player to desktop computers, laptop computers, orvarious portable handheld devices, as discussed above. In thisembodiment, the media player need not be provided as part of the PMLsoftware. Once a user has established an account, configured stations,and downloaded a player, the content player may be synchronized with thecontent distribution system, and the user may listen to his stations. Asa user listens to his station, the content player may check for the mostrecent versions of their configured perishable content and play it. Uponsubsequent synchronizations, the station playlists on the content playermay be updated. If a playlist is large, synchronization may only involvereplacing the played portion of the playlist with new unplayed portions.During synchronization, station playback history may be returned to theserver for review by the user, and made available for overallapplication reporting purposes.

A content player component may provide a content player to users forvarious operating environments, e.g., Windows Desktop/Laptop, WindowsMobile and Symbian devices such as a Nokia smart phone. A content playermay comprise two main functional operations, namely, Synchronizing andPlaying.

Synchronizing may allow a user to update their stations and content byinteracting with the content distribution system and content providersto obtain new schedule information, content and to report played-contenthistory back to the content distribution system. Synchronizationrequires connectivity to remote services and processes, and thus mayonly take place when the content player is connected to the contentdistribution system via a network, e.g., through a wireless connectionor while connected via a network connected computer. Various levels ofsynchronization may occur depending upon the speed and quality of thenetwork connection.

Playing may involve playing content according to user schedules, andrecording playback history. Playing may not require connection to thecontent distribution system; however, obtaining fresh perishable contentmay require a network connection. During playback, the radio-likeexperience may be manifested in, for example, various transitionsbetween content elements, e.g., audio cross-fading. For example, as asong nears its end, the next song may begin playing, thus removing adiscernable pause between tracks. Additionally, a content player mayinject perishable content, e.g., News, Weather, Sports and Trafficreports, based on a user's subscription settings.

A publishing component may provide a means for organizations orindividual users to publish audio content to a common, searchablerepository. This common repository may facilitate searches by anddistribution of available content to subscribers, e.g., organizationsand users, as well as use by a content distribution system.

A publishing administrator may be responsible for configuring acentralized publishing service and granting publishing rights to variouspublishers, e.g., organizations and individuals. The contentdistribution system may provide publishing software, e.g., a contentplayer enhanced with content recording and mixing functions.Organizations may utilize such software to create and define content forpublication. Publishers may configure content based on specifiedcategories and sub-categories (e.g., as may be defined by theadministrator), and a target region (e.g., by country, state, city asmay also be defined by the administrator). A publisher may identify acontent category item to be a single audio file, or may configure aschedule which determines the appropriate audio file to be published ata given time.

When a content category item is configured, the publishing component maywatch for newly-published files to appear in the configured locations.When new files are detected, the new files may be scanned for virusesand scanned according to other rules, e.g., DRM review and mature orillegal content. Then, new files may be made available on a publishingserver, or otherwise published to subscribers, e.g., for inclusion in astation playlist.

In another embodiment, a content distribution system may comprise aslightly different suite of components, namely, (1) a servicescomponent, (2) a websites component, (3) a personal media librarycomponent, (4) a content player component and (5) a publishingcomponent. FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a functional diagram of thosecontent distribution system components.

A services component 1 may provide a core set of business and dataservices needed to support all other content distribution systemfunctionality.

A web site component 2 may provide user interfaces that allowadministrators and customers to interact with the content distributionsystem. These web sites may provide the primary point of interaction foradministrators and users of the content distribution systems, eventhough some functional areas may have separate user interfaces.

A publishing component 3 may provide a source of perishable content oruser-generated content. The content distribution system may utilizeother providers, such as radio broadcasters 4 for music content

The content distribution system may utilize third party contentproviders 5 for music content. A personal music library component 6 mayprovide an alternative to this, by allowing users to use their ownpersonal music (on their Internet connected computer) as a source ofmusic content instead of relying on third party content providers 5 orother content sources.

A content players component 7 may be where users primarily live andinteract with their configured radio-like “stations.” Content playersmay exist for various distinct environments, e.g., WindowsDesktop/Laptop, Windows Mobile and Symbian devices.

Thus, users may interact with a content distribution system andpersonalize their listening experience from easily accessible and easyto use web sites and/or desktop applications. Those having skill in theart will recognize, of course, that “listener” and “user” mayinterchangeably refer to a device user, a media consumer, a mediagenerator/creator, and the like, whether the media be audible, visual,audio/visual, data or text, and whether an individual or not. Thesewebsites and applications may interact with core services that storepreferences, organize schedules and content, and deliver theconfiguration and content for a radio-like experience to contentplayers. The radio-like experience may be delivered as one or more“stations” grouped into user-configurable “bands.” The stations may beuser-configurable (e.g., by artist and genre), so they contain only theaudio files desired by the user. The radio-like experience may furtherallow users to choose up-to-date localized news, weather, traffic,sports, and other short-life-span or perishable media content forinclusion in the “radio broadcast.” The content players thus look andact like a real radio—only better.

Content Distribution System

The focus thus turns to describing an exemplary content distributionsystem for providing such an experience. Generally, the system mayprovide a way to access content from various sources, schedule thatcontent into a radio-like listening experience, and provide that contentto users. The system may also allow users to set up subscriptionaccounts, set user content preferences, upload content, and providefeedback to a content provider.

FIG. 2 discloses one embodiment of a content distribution systemoperated by a radio broadcaster. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat the content distribution system may be operated by any othersuitable content provider, such as a business or religious organization.In the embodiment of FIG. 2, a central server 10 provides a centrallocation through which content may be distributed to various users. Asystem administrator may interact with the central server 10 using anadministrative computer 20. The central server 10 may store, process andretrieve user configuration files, account information, subscriptionpayment, demographic information, media content, perishable content,system configuration data, and other data in a central server database16.

The central server 10 may be connected to various content sources. Inthis embodiment, the central server 10 may be connected to a third-partysubscription-based content server 18. The third-party server 18 may, forexample, host a library of music for downloading or temporary use, orprovide a stream of music. The third-party server 18 may also providecontent metadata, e.g., data relating to the genre, sub-genre, artist,title, duration, etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that thethird-party server 18 may actually comprise a plurality of serversoperated by a content distributor, and each of the plurality of serversmay provide a different type of content, e.g., music, advertisements,infomercials, talk-radio programs, pre-arranged playlists, etc.Additionally, the content distributor may distribute content incompliance with DCMA and DRM rules when played, and provide royaltypayment and management services. The content distributor may distributemedia content in multiple formats, as well, such as in AAC and MP3formats.

The central server 10 may also be connected to a master radio stationserver 22 that receives, processes, stores and serves content from oneor more of radio stations A 24, B 26 and C 28. In this embodiment, theradio stations provide perishable content, e.g., geographicallylocalized news broadcasts, weather reports, traffic reports, sportsbroadcasts, advertisements, public-service announcements, DJ content or“chatter,” “marquee” content, “ticker” content, alerts and the like thathave a relatively short life span or are time- or locale-sensitive.

Of course, in various embodiments a central server 10 may receiveperishable content directly from radio stations, as well. For example,the master radio station server may be connected to a plurality of radiostations that may be situated in various geographic locations, and maybe connected to a plurality of radio stations situated in a commongeographic location. Those skilled in the art will recognize that radiostations may broadcast over-the-air, via Internet, via satellite or byany other suitable transmission means. Those skilled in the art willfurther recognize that one or more of the radio stations may simply beInternet-based streams or aggregated content feeds, from the masterradio station server 22, that pertain to various demographics orgeographic locations.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the master radio station server 22 mayserve as a common location from which the central server 10 may drawperishable content from radio stations in different parts of the world.Station A 24 may be located, for example, in Victoria, BC. Station B 26may be located, for example, in San Antonio, Tex. Station C 28 may belocated, for example, in Tolagnaro, Madagascar. The central server 10may receive from the master station server 22 a list of radio stationsin various geographic locations, e.g., San Antonio, Tex., that a userviews in designing a listening experience, as discussed in more detailbelow.

The central server 10 may also connect to a publishing server 30 thatstores user created content uploaded by various users. As discussed inmore detail below, a user may create content and upload the content to apublishing server 30 for distribution to a target audience, such as to aparticular listener group or the inhabitants of a particular geographicregion. The publishing server 30 may store user created content in acontent database 32. The publishing server 30 may also store userconfiguration files and distribution protocols in a configurationdatabase 34. A publishing administrator may interact with the publishingserver 30 and databases 32 and 34 from a publishing administratorcomputer 36.

Users may connect to the central server 10 through their personalcomputers 12 and/or mobile electronic devices 14. The mobile electronicdevices 14 may include, for example, cellular phones, PDAs, and portablemusic players. Users may use software applications downloaded orotherwise served from the central server 10 to their personal computers12 and/or mobile electronic devices 14. Users may also download softwareapplications from the central server 10 to their personal computers 12and/or mobile electronic devices 14 that allow users to create andpublish their own media content.

Additionally, users may upload a representation of media content from auser's own personal media library, such as a playlist of music files, tothe central server 10, or to the publishing server 30. Alternatively,the media content itself may be uploaded. If uploaded to the centralserver 10, for example, the central server 10 may schedule the user'scontent according to the user's preferences, and return a re-arrangedplaylist to a user for playback. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat users may upload media content or its representation from a usercomputer 12 or from a mobile electronic device 14.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the various devicesdisclosed in FIG. 2 may communicate via one or more networks. A networkmay be any type of electronically connected group of computers orelectronic devices including, for instance, the following networks:Internet, Intranet, Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN),cellular communication networks, PSTN, or an interconnected combinationof these network types. In addition, the connectivity within a networkmay be, for example, remote modem, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Token Ring(IEEE 802.5), Fiber Distributed Datalink Interface (FDDI), Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11), Wi-Max (IEEE 802.16), GSM, CDMA, 3G, D-AMPS, AsynchronousTransfer Mode (ATM), or any other communication protocol. Those havingskill in the art will recognize that the devices in FIG. 2 may be anysuitable device, such as a desktop computer, server, portable device,hand-held device, set-top box, cellular phone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), a terminal, thin client, or a suitable device of anyother desired type or configuration. Those having skill in the art willrecognize that network-connected devices, and devices connected to eachother, may vary widely in processing speed, internal memory,communication capability, and other performance aspects, as may besuitable for the various functionalities described herein. Such devicesmay also be geographically dispersed. Communications within the networkand to or from the computing devices connected to the network or eachother may be either wired or wireless, and may be established byphysical, electronic, optical, or other means. Wireless communicationmay be especially advantageous for network connected portable orhand-held devices. A network may include, at least in part, theworld-wide public Internet which generally connects a plurality of usersin accordance with a client-server model in accordance with thetransmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) specification.A client-server network may provide a dominant model for communicatingbetween two computing devices. Using this relationship, a clientcomputer (a “client”) may issue one or more commands to a servercomputer (the “server”). The server may fulfill client commands byaccessing available network resources and returning information to theclient pursuant to client commands. During this process, client computersystems and network resources resident on the network servers may beassigned a network address for identification during communicationsbetween elements of the network. Communications from other networkconnected systems to the servers may include the network address of therelevant server/network resource as part of the communication so thatthe appropriate destination of the data/request may be identified as therecipient. If a network comprises the global Internet, the networkaddress may be an IP address in the TCP/IP format which may, at least inpart, route data to an e-mail account, a web-site, or other Internettool resident on the server. Thus, information and services resident onthe network servers may be available to the web browser of a clientcomputer through a domain name which maps to the IP address of thenetwork server.

In one embodiment, the content distribution system architecture may beprovided through a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and followguidelines outlined in Windows Server System Reference Architecture(WSSRA). In such an embodiment, the architecture may provide variouslayers of security, e.g., a player zone, a perimeter trust zone, and aninternal trust zone. All external system requests may originate from theplayer zone through, for example, a browser-based graphical userinterface provided on a PDA. All user devices may be treated as part ofthe player zone. The player zone may be separated from the perimetertrust zone by a firewall. Requests originating from the player zone maypass through the firewall to the player trust zone. Components in theperimeter trust zone, such as the publishing server 30 and sections ofthe central server 10, may authenticate and verify incoming requestsfrom the player zone. Requests originating from the perimeter trust zonemay pass through a firewall to the internal trust zone. Components ofthe internal trust zone, such as various databases, and SQL and backendservers, may authenticate and verify incoming requests from theperimeter trust zone.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the various servers,computers and databases described in FIG. 2 may be provided in anysuitable configuration. For example, the central server 10 may inpractice be provided as load balanced server clusters, some of which mayhandle backend services, and some which may be web servers that handlerequests from the player zone. Other servers, databases and computersmay in fact comprise one or more suitable devices.

Likewise, any suitable device configuration may be used. For example,web servers may run Windows Server 2003, have 1 Gb of memory and 50 Gbof hard disk space. SQL servers may run Windows Server 2003, have 2 Gbof memory and 100 Gb of hard disk space. Services cluster servers mayrun Microsoft SQL Server 2000, have 1 Gb of memory and 100 Gb of harddisk space. A user computer may run Windows XP, have 256 Mb memory and 1Gb hard disk space, and have Windows Media Player v.10, and InternetExplorer v.6.0 installed.

For further example, the communication protocol between the user devicesrunning the content player described below and components located in theperimeter trust zone may occur via HTTP port 80 or HTTPS port 443. Thecommunication protocol between components in the permit or trust zoneand the internal trust zone may occur via .NET remoting over port 80.Communication between the internal trust zone and third-party sources,e.g., over the Internet, may be by any suitable protocol.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that content may be provided toa user device by any suitable means, such as by downloading or streamingor some combination thereof. Content may be buffered or stored to allowa user to skip content while listening to a station and to allowplayback of perishable content when a user device is not connected tothe central server 10.

Account Setup

The content distribution system may allow a user to set up a newaccount. In one embodiment, the central server 10 may provide abrowser-based graphical user interface for manifestation on usercomputer 12. For example, a radio broadcaster may provide one or morewebpages that contain a link to a new account registration page, such asthat depicted in FIG. 3.

A user may create a new user account through the web site or through aweb site launched by the application, as shown in the embodiment of FIG.3. As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 3, a new user may provide a uniqueuser login name and select a password that may be used to allow accessto media content and perishable content. The user's login name may, forexample, be the user's e-mail address. A user may also provide contactand demographic information. The user may also provide a user profile.For example, the application may prompt the user to enter demographicinformation, such as age, sex and zip code. The application may also askmarketing questions during subscription set up. Marketing questions maybe used to support content scheduling and advertisement selection.Confirmation that a new account has been set up may be sent to theuser's e-mail address.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, a user may subscribe at one of severallevels of access. One level of access may be provided to the user freeof charge, if the user agrees to listen to a certain number ofadvertisements each hour. Another level of access may be provided at asubscription rate that depends on how many advertisements (or how manyminutes worth of advertisements) the user is willing to listen to. Apremium subscription level may provide access to an advertisement-freelistening experience. Additionally, a trial subscription period may beoffered. A user may set up multiple subscriptions, e.g., by registeringthrough various radio station websites.

Although not shown in the embodiment of FIG. 3, a user may be presentedwith various payment options, such as by credit card, PayPal or uponinvoice. A user may also be presented with various payment periods, suchas monthly payment or annual payment. A user may also be presented withthe ability to link an account with a “shopping cart” that may be usedto purchase content while listening. Thus, a user's account may includefinancial account details.

Customizing a Listening Experience

After setting up a new user account, a user may be provided theopportunity to customize his listening experience. The central server 10may provide the new user with a user interface, such as the exemplaryweb browser-based screen of FIG. 4, that allows the user to begin thecustomizing process by clicking on a Customize Station Now button 50.

In one embodiment, a user may set up one or more pseudo-radio “stations”that may each be associated with a different listening experience or“theme.” Thus, in one embodiment, a user may create a radio-likelistening experience with content from various sources. As shown in theembodiment of FIG. 5, for example, a user may choose one or morepreferred music genres and select various artists from within thosegenres to create a particular listening experience for a “station.”Various controls may be provided to facilitate user selection. In thisembodiment, under the “Alternative” genre, clicking on the “⊕” buttonmay expand the listing to include the sub-genres “Fabulous” and “AdultAlternative.” Referring still to FIG. 5, after identifying a desiredgenre in the table of Genres 52, such as “Blues,” a user may click onthe circled “A” button 54 to view the artists associated with the genre.In this example, blues artists such as Al Green, Albert Collins, andAlbert King appear listed in Artists table 56. A user may click on thecircled “

” button 58 next to an artist's name to select that artist. In thisexample, Albert King and Anita Baker had been selected for a stationnamed “The Blues.” The user may, of course, remove an artist by clickingon the “

” button. In this embodiment, various controls may be provided to allowa user to listen to a short sample of a song, a music genre, or asampling of songs representing an artist's musical style.

The user may also specify how long the selected content is to playwithout repeating. In this example, the station may play a blues songrotation for 90 minutes before starting over. Also, the user may specifya particular “band,” to which the “station” will be assigned. As will bediscussed below in connection with the user interface for the mediaplayer, a “band” may be presented to the user as analogous to thestation settings on a car radio. Each band may include one or morestations. The number of bands and stations may be determined by a user'ssubscription level. The user may further specify a preference as to whatpercent of air time a particular artist should be played. In thisexample, the user has specified that Albert King's songs playapproximately 50% of the station air time, and that Anita Baker's songsreceive the remaining air time.

Additionally, a user may choose an overall “theme” for the station. Inthis embodiment, the particular theme may be a geographic location fromwhich perishable content is drawn. To create, edit or delete a theme, auser may be presented with a user interface, such as that of FIG. 6,that allows selection of perishable content from various radio stationsin that geographic area. In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, the userhas selected a theme related to San Antonio, Tex. Those skilled in theart will recognize, of course, that the user need not reside in aparticular geographic location in order to enjoy perishable content fromthat location. A user might, for example, reside in Ogallala, Nebr., yetstill enjoy perishable content from San Antonio, Tex., or from any other(or a mixed variety of) geographic locations. In this embodiment, a usermay choose a different country, state, and city from which to listen toperishable content, as provided in the embodiment of FIG. 6. A user neednot select the most specific available geographic region, i.e., a usermay select, for example, only a country, and receive a listing ofperishable content available from that country. In various embodiments,other geographic regions or other sources of perishable content (such astrade associations or other special interest groups) may be defined.Thus, a user may select perishable content according to preference. Aradio broadcaster operating the content distribution system may chooseto make available only those radio stations under its control. A contentdistributor may also make various content sources available depending onsubscription level. A content distributor may provide a number ofpre-programmed themes that can be selected by a user, and also provide anumber of preprogrammed stations that can be selected by the user, aswell.

Referring still to the embodiment of FIG. 6, upon selecting a geographiclocation or region for listings of available perishable content sourcesin those areas, a user may sort the results by type of perishablecontent by clicking on various buttons. In this embodiment, a sportsbutton 66, a news button 64, a weather button 68, and a traffic 70reports button may be provided that correspond to the types ofperishable content commonly offered by radio stations, i.e., news,weather, traffic and sports (also known as “NWTS”). If a user selectsthe news button 64, for example, the San Antonio, Tex., radio stationWOAI-AM (e.g., station B 26 in FIG. 2) appears as a source for newsreports. If the user desires to listen to news pertaining to SanAntonio, the user may add that San Antonio area news station to his “TheBlues” station by clicking the “Add” button 62 to add San Antonio newscontent to the theme.

The various perishable content components of the theme may be displayedin the lower portion of the exemplary screen of FIG. 6. As may be seenthere, a user has chosen both weather reports and news reports fromWOAI-AM. A user may further specify how often each type of perishablecontent is to be played. For example, a user may choose to listen to aweather report at the beginning of each hour, and listen to a newsreport on demand. Also, a user may choose to have public serviceannouncements or emergency alerts delivered on an expedited basis (notshown in FIG. 6). And, of course, a user may also delete a source ofperishable content by using a delete button 60.

In various embodiments, other types of perishable content may be madeavailable, e.g., “DJ Chatter” from a particular radio personality, ortalk radio program, or other content of interest. For DJ chatter, forexample, a user may be presented with an option for more chatter or lesschatter. Perishable content does not have to pertain to a particulargeographic location, but may pertain to a particular issue of the day, aparticular audience, or a particular event, to name a few examples. Foreach of those types of content, a user may select a San Antonio areastation from which perishable content is to be used, or may selectperishable content from another geographic region or other desirablecontent. As discussed below, such other desirable content may includeuser created content or content from a personal music library.

FIG. 7A illustrates another embodiment of a screen through which a usermay establish a theme. In this embodiment, a drop-down menu may be seenthat allows a user to select how often perishable content is played. Forexample, if a user prefers to listen to a longer playlist of musicwithout interruption, the user may choose to only play perishablecontent on demand. Or, if a user prefers to break up a playlist ofmusic, the user may specify an interval or time at which each type ofperishable content should be played.

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 7B, more advanced timing options maybe provided to a user. Using drop down menus 72 and 74, for example, theuser may elect to have the San Antonio area forecast played at the topof every hour, and the San Antonio area news played on demand. Usingmore advanced options, for example, as may be provided in drop downmenus 76 and 78, a user may choose to define a specific time range toplay a perishable content item, and may specify how many times(“repeat”) that they wish to hear the same perishable content. Forexample, a user may desire to hear traffic reports only between thehours of 7 AM and 9 AM, and between 4 PM and 6 PM. The media player may,by default, inject and play each new perishable content file one timeand not inject or play the same item again until it has been refreshed;however, the user may override that and specify how many times the sameperishable content is to be repeated. After the same perishable contenthas been played for a specified number of times, the audio file for theperishable content may not be played until it has been refreshed withnew content during synchronization with the central server 10.Alternatively, a content distributor may establish an expiration datefor perishable content and prevent expired perishable content from beingplayed. A content distributor may provide fresh content of the type andsource as specified by the user.

In that manner, a user may specify a number of different themes, andassociate a theme with one or more stations. After having defined onestation, a user may elect to define further stations by going throughthe process described above. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the user has,for the band 1, set up four stations named “Blues/Rock,” “alt,”“class/jazz” and “Texas Country,” respectively. The user may be providedwith various controls that may be used to view the station details. Inthis embodiment, clicking on the “⊕” 80 button may allow a user toexpand the list of preferences pertaining to that particular station.For example, in the “Blues/Rock” station assigned to band, a user maysee a list of preferred artists 82, and the radio stations from whichperishable content is drawn. Other options may be provided for a user asseen in the “Options” field 83, such as an auction for creating a newcustom station, an option for adding a new listening device, an optionfor viewing playlists, and an option for changing service to a newsubscription level. Also, the central server 10 may provide on a user's“homepage” additional advertisements, music features, event listings fora particular region, and other information that may be of interest tothe user based on the user's profile.

The user may also elect to have content incorporated into a station froman RSS feed, as depicted in the embodiment of FIG. 9. In thisembodiment, a user may enter the title of an RSS feed, and specify atthe RSS URL. In that way, the RSS feed may be added to, or used in placeof the typical NWTS perishable content. The RSS feed may provide, forexample, a podcast of a long format talk show or an opinion piece, orblog entries or audible news headlines.

Additionally, a user may specify which types of commercials from one ormore categories to listen to. In the embodiment of FIG. 10, a user maybe provided with various advertisement categories, including“Automotive,” “Entertainment,” “Financial,” “Food Beverage,”“Insurance,” “Pharmaceuticals,” “Real Estate,” “Restaurants” and“Retail.” Thus, depending on the subscription level, when a commercialis played, commercials may be drawn from the selected categories. Also,the application may be configured to select commercials at random fromvarious categories if the user does not select enough categories. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the amount and format ofcommercial content may be based on the user's subscription level, andmay further be defined by the content distributor. Commercials may bedrawn from any source and may be directed to any particular demographic.In one embodiment, commercials may be national, and provided by thecontent distributor. In other embodiments, the content distributor mayincorporate local advertisements in specific markets. For example, auser may desire to hear commercials only from the geographic location inwhich he resides.

In some embodiments, perishable content and commercials may be selectedfor playback across various stations. In other words, a user'sperishable content selections and commercial listening selections mayapply to one or more stations in one or more bands. Thus, for example, auser may listen to news content from WOAI-AM whether listening to acountry music station, a rock station, a jazz station or blues stationwithout having to designate news from WOAI-AM separately for each ofthose stations. The number of commercials played during any given hourmay depend on the user's subscription level. For example, if a user hasa free subscription, a block of four commercials may be played threetimes an hour. If a user tries to skip a commercial, the commercial maybe played again until the user listens to the entire commercial.

In other embodiments, a user may elect to listen to fully- orpartially-configured stations that may be provided as shown in theembodiment of FIG. 11. A central server 10 may provide a number ofstations that are popular with other users having a similar profile.During setup, a user may be provided with the opportunity to choosegenres that may be of interest, and define various stations according tothe genres provided. Those having skill in the art will recognize that astation may have multiple genres associated with it, whether the stationis customized by the user as described above, or selected from a list offully- or partially-configured stations. That way, a user may quicklybegin listening to a selection of music within a genre if the user isrelatively unfamiliar with, for example, the various artists within thatgenre. The user may also click on an “Optional Content” button 84 to setup a perishable content theme as described above.

In some embodiments, the content distributor may provide a web page thatprovides the user with historical detail, pertaining to his account,including payment history, played content, user feedback on the playedcontent, etc. The web page may also provide a history of such fees andhistory of shopping cart related purchases. The web page may furtherprovide a way for users to purchase played content. The web page mayfurther provide a way for users to search for played content by title,album, artist, or any other content identifying criterion.

In still other embodiments, a user may establish a station with contentwholly or partially drawn from the user's (or another's) personal musiclibrary. A user may provide a content distributor with access to apersonal music library, and specify a location of the personal musiclibrary. The content distributor may further provide a way for the userto search his personal music library and designate content for inclusionin a station. The content distributor may retrieve content from personalmusic library according to preferences specified in the user profile orotherwise specified by the user. For example, if the user desires toestablish a station of country music drawn from his personal musiclibrary, the user may designate certain music from the library for thecontent distributor to use, or rely on the content distributor's skillin choosing an appropriate mix of music from the personal music library.For example, a content distributor may rely on metadata associated withmusic in the personal music library to identify suitable selections. Thecontent distributor may arrange suitable music using any suitableprofessional broadcast scheduling software to create pleasingtransitions between songs, e.g., cross-fades and voiceovers, and providethe arranged music to the listener for playback in connection with thechosen station. For example, the central server 10 may rely onprofessional broadcast scheduling software, such as NexGen from ProphetSystems Innovations, to adjust the relationship between songs toincorporate cross fades, lead-ins and lead-outs. The server may furtheruse a rule-based approach to provide the user with a varied listeningexperience. In some embodiments, the content provider may mix music fromthe personal music library with perishable content and commercials, inthe manner described above. The content provider may also provide theuser with the ability to skip around within the playlist that thecontent distributor has arranged, or to shuffle the playlist into adifferent arrangement.

Of course, if the user did not want to provide a central server 10 withaccess to his computer system or mobile listening device, the user couldsimply upload his personal media library or information about hispersonal media library to the central server 10 so that the centralserver 10 may use professional broadcast scheduling software to arrangethe media into a playlist having audio properties and content specifiedby the user.

In another embodiment, a user may incorporate music from a personalmusic library into a preconfigured station, or into a station configuredaccording to the user's preferences as described above. For example, auser may desire to add music from a personal music library as part of amusic playlist generated by the content distributor. As part of settingup an account, a user may thus provide access rights for the centralserver 10 to access the user's personal media library.

In utilizing a user's personal media library, the central server 10 mayverify, using for example, DRM techniques, that the user legally ownsthe collection of audio content in the personal media library. Invarious embodiments, a user may organize or manage his content by usinga content management application, such as iTunes or Windows MediaPlayer. A user may furthermore have arranged some of that content intoplaylists or otherwise created a desired listening experience. Thus, auser may have the option of including such playlists as part of astation content. In other words, a content distributor may incorporatecontent that has already been arranged by a user. In some embodiments, acentral server 10 may evaluate such user-created playlists, and useinformation about such arrangements in creating a station listeningexperience. For example, a central server 10 may evaluate the tempochanges from song to song in the user created playlists, and arrange thesongs in a station playlist to approximate the tempo changes.

In yet another embodiment, a user may generate content for playback on agiven station. For example, a user may generate content, and upload itto the publishing server 30, and specify that the content distributorinclude that content in a station playlist. Alternatively, the user maygenerate content and add it to his personal media library for inclusionin a station playlist as discussed above. In yet another alternative, auser may generate content and uploaded directly to the content server 10for inclusion in a station playlist. Such user generated (oruser-created) content may be, for example, a user's own attempt at DJchatter, or a humorous faux-news report. User generated content may alsoinclude content generated by other users. For example, as described inmore detail below, the publishing server 30 or central server 10 maycontain a variety of user-generated content, and a user subscribing tosuch content may be able to select such content for inclusion in astation playlist.

Content Player

As may be seen in the embodiment of FIG. 12, after the user sets up anaccount, the content distributor may provide the user with the option ofdownloading a virtual content player adapted to play content accordingto the stations configured by the user. The media player may beconfigured to appear similar to a typical non-virtual radio dial. Thecontent distributor may provide such a media player as a web-based mediaplayer from the central server 10. A content distributor may provide amedia player in any suitable way, such as by bundling media player,together with other software applications, or factory installing themedia player on a mobile media device.

In the embodiment of FIG. 12, users may have the option of downloading acontent media player to one or more devices. For example, a user maydownload the media player to a desktop PC, to a laptop computer, and toa mobile phone. As discussed below, the user may listen to his stationson each of those devices, and seamlessly switch between listening tothose devices. In some embodiments, the content server may evaluate theconfiguration of the device onto which the media player will be loadedin order to determine if the device meets the requirements to run themedia player application.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary virtual radio player interface or contentplayer 96 adapted to play content according to the stations configuredby the user. In this embodiment, the interface may provide a number ofradio buttons by which the user may listen to the different stationsthat the user has set up. For example, the user may select Band 1, withwhich the “Blues/Rock” station is associated, by clicking on the“{circle around (1)}” button 86. The user may then click on the “

” button 88 to begin playing the desired content. Likewise, the user mayclick on the “▪” button 90 to stop play, click on the “

” button 92 to pause play and click on the “

” button 94 to skip to the next song. In one embodiment, the centralserver 10 may allow the user to skip as many songs as the user desires.Preferably, a user will not be allowed to skip commercials. The user mayswitch between different bands to listen to the different stations.

To listen to perishable content, the user may either wait until the timespecified by the user, e.g., at the top of the hour or at a timecertain, or play the perishable content on demand by clicking one of thebuttons on the right-hand side of the player display 96. For example, ifa user clicks on the “N” button 98, news from the selected local stationwill immediately begin playing. The “N” 98, “W”, “T” and “S” buttons onthe right side of the media player 96 may be associated with newsreports, weather reports, traffic reports and sports reports,respectively. In various embodiments, those buttons may be assignable(by the user or content distributor) to other types of perishablecontent, and other buttons may be provided.

In this example, the user interface may also allow the user to rate thesong that is being played on a scale of 1 to 10. The user may click onthe “⊕” button 100 to raise the rating, and click on the “⊖” button 102to lower the rating. Rating the songs in such a way allows theapplication to adjust the song mix, according to the user's preference.

The radio player interface also provides a display area 104 in which thesong title, artist and duration of the song may be displayed. Otherinformation may also be displayed, such as the album in which the songmay be found, and the album cover art. Additionally, artist informationmay be displayed. In one embodiment, the user may click on the displayedalbum cover, which will then launch a web site from which the user maypurchase the album. In one embodiment, a content player may incorporatea “Buy it Now” function to allow a user to click on the song title,which will then launch a web site from which the user may purchase thesong (or other content, as the case may be). As noted above, “shoppingcart” functionality may be provided to facilitate such purchases. In oneembodiment, the user may click on the artist's name, which will thenlaunch the artist's web site. The display area of the radio playerinterface may also display a scrolling “marquee” or “ticker” ofinformation, or visually inform the listener of an alert that maypertain to the geographic location of other perishable content. Forexample, a NOAA storm warning may scroll across the display area to warnthe user of inclement weather conditions in the geographic location towhich the perishable content pertains. As shown in FIG. 14, using theradio player interface 96, a user may also view and adjust the playersettings as indicated at 106.

FIGS. 15A-15C illustrate one embodiment of user interfaces for accessingthe user settings. A user may verify his account name in box 108 andother information, and designate whether the radio player interfaceshould be launched on start up using check box 110, e.g., when thedesktop computer 12 or mobile device 14 is powered on. The user may alsospecify by using check box 112 whether a window will pop up to indicateto the user that the media player is synchronizing with the centralserver 10.

Referring to FIG. 15B, the user may also verify and adjust thesynchronization settings as indicated at 114, and specify the server,e.g., the central server, with which synchronization is to take place.Likewise, the user may specify whether synchronization takes place at aparticular time, whether the user may manually force synchronization, orwhether synchronization should take place at particular time intervals.In this example, the user may specify that the perishable content shouldbe synchronized every 15 minutes using drop down menu 116, i.e., themedia player should check for new perishable content every 15 minutes.The user may also specify, for example, that the music selection shouldbe synchronized or updated at exactly 2 a.m. each day using drop downmenu 118. Those having skill in the art will recognize thatsynchronization may be two-way. The application may synchronize with thecentral server 10 to obtain fresh content, and a central server mayreceive updated user configuration information. Generally, thesynchronization process obtains station schedules from the centralserver 10, and downloads or streams the needed music and commercialcontent to the player. As users listen to their stations, the player maycheck for the most recent versions of their configured perishablecontent and play it. Each synchronization may update the stationschedules on the player by replacing the played portion with new musiccontent. During synchronization, the history of the songs played on thestation is returned to the central server 10 so it can be reviewed bythe user and be available for overall application reporting purposes.Once synchronization is complete, additional schedule content may begenerated to replace what has been put on the player. That new schedulecontent may then be available for subsequent synchronization.

Unlike playback of content, synchronization requires connectivity to thecentral server 10 and its processes, and can only take place when theuser device is connected to a network. Those having skill in the artwill recognize that such connection may be wireless. Various levels ofsynchronization may be provided depending upon the speed and quality ofthe network connection. The radio player interface may also provide away for the users to force a synchronization of the player with thecentral server 10. In the embodiment of FIG. 16, a user may synchronizewith respect to all content, or may synchronize only with respect to theperishable content using drop down menu 120.

The user may also verify or designate the computer directory in whichvarious configuration files are to be stored, as well as verify ordesignate the computer directory in which the music for the radio“station” is to be stored. For example, while the media player isplaying content, the media player records the history of content playedand stores that history record in the designated computer directory. Theplay history may also include information about the device on which thecontent was played. In that manner, the central server 10 may track whencontent was played, on which device the content was played, which songswere skipped, which perishable content was used, song ratings, and thelike. During synchronization, the play history may be provided to thecentral server 10.

In one embodiment, a content player may be provided with the exemplaryarchitecture shown in FIG. 17. A content player may include five primarycomponents, namely, a synchronization component 130, configurationcomponent 132, playback component 134, content injection component 136and presentation component 138.

A synchronization component 130 may run as a background task and beresponsible for obtaining user subscription settings and downloadinguser content. The synchronization component 130 may mostly sleep, wakingup periodically to determine whether it should check for updatedperishable content to perform an entire synchronization. Thisdetermination may be based on user configuration.

A configuration component 132 may be responsible for managing access touser and system configuration information. The system configurationinformation may be updated during each synchronization. Userconfiguration data may be edited by the user and stored locally, e.g.,as XML.

A content injection component 136 may be responsible for evaluating thecurrent state of the system to determine whether commercials orperishable content should be injected or not. Near the end of each song,the playback component 134 may call the content injection component 136to see if it should add commercials or perishable content to the top ofa playlist. The injection of commercial content may be based on systemsettings that are associated with a user's subscription type. Theinjection of perishable content may be based on settings that the userspecifies either via a PML application/website or other contentdistribution system website.

The playback component 134 may control the current station playlist andthe audio playback threads. It may use multiple audio playback threadsto handle various radio-like transitions, e.g., the cross-fadingfeature. For example, a song may be played with the first audio playbackthread; the thread will raise an event when the song is nearing its end.This event may signal the playback component 134 to check for injectablecontent then play the next item in the playlist by launching a secondaudio playback thread.

A presentation component 138 may be responsible for rendering a playerinterface to the user and reacting to user actions. The presentationcomponents may also work closely with the playback component 134 so thatit may correctly display the current playback state.

Mobile Devices

In various embodiments, a content player may also be provided to auser's mobile devices. In the embodiments of FIGS. 18-20, such a mobiledevice comprises a mobile phone. In that embodiment, a content playerapplication may be provided from the central server 10 over a cellulartelephone network to a user's cellular phone 14. The application may beadapted to run on a mobile phone operating system, such as, but notlimited to the Windows™ Mobile Operating System, or a Symbian™ OperatingSystem such as the Symbian™ Operating System 9.1. Likewise, theapplication for providing a radio-like experience may be downloaded froma central server 10 to a personal electronic device, such as a PDA. Theapplication may be adapted to run on the personal electronic device'soperating system. Such operating systems may include, for example,Windows Mobile/CE, OS X and Palm OS. Also, applications for a mobiletelephone and for a personal electronic device may be software sold toor downloaded by user, or provided as already installed on the devicewhen purchased from a retailer. Themes and stations may be set up on amobile device 14 in the same manner as set up with a desktop computer.

As described above, a user may define the devices on which he is runningeach instance of the application for providing a radio-like experience.In the example shown in FIG. 12, the user may have two desktop devices,A & B, from which he may access his account. The user may also specifymobile devices, such as cellular phones. Using drop down menu 120 (FIG.12), in this embodiment a user may specify a mobile device as anadditional platform on which to run the application, such as a Cingular™8125 PocketPC™, a Nokia™ E60 (2.50), a Nokia™ E70 (2.50), or aPalmTreo700W (2.0.4). A user may be prompted to install the applicationon the device after choosing the specific device, and an installerapplication may be transmitted to the user's mobile device 14 (FIGS.18-20) for installing the application. After the user downloads theapplication onto the device 14, a user may choose whether to enablemanual or automatic synchronization with the desktop instance or withthe central server. Such synchronization may allow a user to seamlesslyswitch from listening to a desktop instance of the application to amobile device and may be accomplished, in various embodiments, through awireless Internet connection or some other suitable connection. If theapplication is installed on the selected device 14, the server may beadapted to recognize the device 14 selected by the user and synchronizecontent with that device 14, as indicated by the user in set-up (eithermanually or automatically). Of course, various cellular phones or mobiledevices 14 may be adapted to run the application. For example, theapplication may be adapted to run on a cellular phone or other mobiledevice 14 having (in example of a Nokia™ E70 cellular phone) 60 MB ofmemory, a miniSD™ memory card, with a display 15 having an active colormatrix and a resolution of 352×416 pixels, and having the followingconnectivity: Integrated WLAN (IEEE 802.11g) (also known as Wi-Fi), USB(USB 2.0), Bluetooth™ version 1.2, Pop-Port connector (or a similarconnector for supporting a hands-free microphone, and stereo speakers),and Infrared. The application may be synchronized using a Wi-Ficonnection to or cellular signaling with a network.

Whether the user uses only the desktop application, or uses both adesktop and mobile application, the user may create a single useraccount (or multiple accounts, if desired) that may be accessed throughevery instance of the application. For example, a user may be seated athis desk listening to the desktop instance of the radio application,and, if in synchronous communication with the central server 10,continue listening on his mobile device 14 to the radio experience whenhe leaves his desk. In one embodiment, switching listening from onedevice to another may be substantially seamless to the user, e.g., theremay be very little time lag or play back gap. In various embodiments,the content player interfaces shown in FIGS. 13-16 and 18-20 may beprogrammed to appear in a display screen 15 of a user's cellular phoneor other mobile device 14 such that the user may control and play theirpersonalized radio experience directly from a cellular phone or othermobile device 14. The various buttons in the virtual radio playerinterface 96, such as, but not limited to, the “{circle around (10)}”button 86, the “

” button 88, the “▪” button 90 to stop play, the “

” button 92, and the “

” button 94, may be selected using a joystick, a trackball, or any otherhardware component 17 associated with the cellular phone or other mobiledevice 14. In various embodiments, the number or character keys on acellular phone or other mobile device 14 may be programmed to correspondto the various buttons in virtual radio player interface 96. A user'scellular phone or other mobile device 14 may have speakers adaptable toplay the user's personalized radio experience at a suitable volume suchthat a user may place the cellular phone or other mobile device on adesk or other surface and listen to the radio station while working,studying or doing some other activity. Alternatively, a user may plug inheadphones to a mobile device or use a Bluetooth™ earpiece to listen tohis personalized radio experience.

User Created Content

As noted above, content specified for playback on the media player mayinclude user created content. A user may, for example, set up a stationsolely for playing user created content, or may elect to have usercreated content inserted as personal content into a station set up for,e.g., music.

User created content may be of any type and from any source. Forexample, a user may create an audio blog or an RSS feed, record aspeech, or read a narrative. Also, organizations, such as schools andbusiness, may create content, such as bulletins, flashes, or newsreleases, for distribution. With reference to FIG. 2, the user mayupload the user created content to the publishing server 30 forinclusion in a common repository. The publishing server 30 may rely on acontent database 18 to store the user created content, and rely on virusprotection software to screen incoming files. Encryption may also beused to ensure the security of sensitive content.

A common repository, such as that provided on publishing server 30, maycomprise a user-built “library” of audio content that may be categorizedand organized in various ways for ease of retrieval and aggregation. Therepository may grow as users add content (e.g., user-created content)and may be searchable. The user who uploaded a file may specify accessrestrictions for that file, or audio distribution lists. Other users maysearch for and retrieve content in the repository (depending on theuser's level access), and may further request that content from certainauthors be automatically injected into a particular station on theirmedia players. The publishing server 30 may rely on a configurationdatabase 34 to store user profile and configuration information.

Thus, in one example, the system provides a means for registeredorganizations or users to publish audio content to the repository. Forexample, a director in a multi-level distributing company or afranchisor may record a motivational message and upload the message tothe publishing server 30. The director may further grant authorizationfor a specific group of users to access the message, or specify that themessage be automatically distributed to a group of users at a certaintime, or upon occurrence of a certain event. The company's productdistributors or franchisees may access the message by clicking on astation set up to receive such content, or retrieve the message byaccessing the publishing server 30 and downloading the message.

Other Back-End Functions and Services

In one embodiment, the central server 10 may provide a unique schedulefor each station to provide a particular listening experience. Such aschedule may be used as a guideline to play the content of each station,and may contain music content, talkshow content, DJ chatter content,radio long program content, commercial content, perishable content, usergenerated content, and any other content suitable for the station ascustomized by the user. Preferably, the central server 10 may applyDRM/DMCA rules to content played by the content player. Thus, a contentschedule may include rules that force compliance with DRM/DMCA rules.For example, a song by a given artist may be scheduled for play only onetime during a scheduled one-hour block of time. The central server 10may limit which, and how often, content elements may be skipped in ascheduled one-hour block of time. The central server 10 may furthertrack and report content played and skipped to facilitate royaltymanagement. In one embodiment, such royalty information may be providedto a third-party content provider. Content may be counted as played whena user listens to a certain amount of the content. For example, if auser listens to half of a song before skipping to the next song, thesong may be deemed to have been played for royalty purposes. The samerules may apply to commercials and talkshow content. Preferably, theinformation may be reported when the user devices synchronize with acentral server 10. In various embodiments, the application used toschedule a user's personal media library may be different from theapplication used to provide the media player interface.

Furthermore, station schedules may be adjusted to accommodate thevarious capabilities of a device. For example, a user's desktop computermay have greater capacity for and capability of storing and playingcontent than a handheld device. A content schedule may be provided todifferent devices with different capabilities, by altering for example,content format and compression ratio.

In one embodiment, synchronization of a user device with the centralserver 10 may involve a number of activities. Played content based onDMCA rules may be reported to the central server 10. Played contentbased on DMR rules may be reported to the central server 10. Skipcontent may be reported to the central server 10. Scheduled subscriptioncontent, not already existing on the device, may be copied to the devicein the format specified by the user (if there is available space on thedevice). Content that the user rates or provides feedback for may bereported to the central server 10. If content has changed fromsubscription to purchase content, DRM rules may be changed with respectto the purchase content before it is downloaded or streamed to the userdevice. The buffer or storage space in a user device may be checked.Played content may be replaced with new content or a new contentschedule. Perishable content may be updated.

As discussed above, a services component may, in one embodiment, providea centralized location for accessing common content distribution systembusiness logic and data storage functionality that is needed by allcontent distribution system components. In the content distributionsystem services embodiment 150 of FIG. 21, the services component mayprovide the core of the content distribution system. These services maybe grouped into seven independent service centers, namely, ContentServices 152, Customer Services 154, Logging Services 156, ContentPlayer Services 158, Personal Publishing Services 160, SchedulingServices 162 and Data Services 164, that each provide unique operationaland behavioral functionality. Such division allows each service centerto be readily adaptable, easily distributed, and highly scalable. Oneembodiment of those service centers is illustrated in FIG. 20 anddescribed in more detail below.

Content Services 152 may isolate the process of obtaining content andtransforming it into files usable by the content distribution system.This content may be songs, syndicated talk, station programming,perishable, commercial, or most any other type of recoded content.Content Services 152 may obtain content from third party providers,transform the content by transcoding content codecs or container files,and aggregate and cache content metadata to facilitate access tometadata information. By encapsulating this functionality behind a setof generic services, the content distribution system may gain theability to add or change content providers without impacting othercontent distribution system functionality.

Customer Services 154 may provide useful business functionality relatedto a customer, such as login authorization, forgotten login services,and device management/synchronization utilities.

Utility Services 156 is responsible for providing utility functionalityfor the content distribution system, such as encryption, configuration,service discovery, and logging may be provided here.

Content Player Services 158 may provide the main interface between thecontent players and content distribution system services. Content PlayerServices 158 may support synchronization as well as the acquisition ofaudio content. Service calls to Content Player Services 158 may beauthenticated by means of a device key or user I.D. and passwordvalidation, or both. Authentication may be used to prevent unauthorizedaccess to audio content.

Personal Publishing Service 160 may provide access to content availableon a publishing server. The content player and PML applications maycommunicate with the Personal Publishing Service 160 to obtain contentmeta-data and the actual content item. This service may be responsiblefor authenticating a user with appropriate credentials to a publishingserver.

Scheduling Services 162 may provide a set of services needed forcreating, maintaining, and delivering schedule content for each stationfor subscribing users. To reduce this risk of throughput bottlenecks,Scheduling Services 162 may be segmented into the basic services forobtaining and adjusting schedules, and a Scheduler Queue 166 ofprioritized requests that may be read and processed by a SchedulerWindows Service 168. This segmentation may serve to isolate the schedulegeneration process from the basic service needs. Thus, changes orreimplementation of a schedule generation process may occur withoutimpacting other areas of the architecture. When Scheduling Services 162receives a schedule generation request, instead of immediately buildingnew schedule content, it may forward the request on to the schedulegeneration queue 166. This queue may be constantly monitored by theScheduler Windows Service 168. When the Windows Service 168 discovers arequest within the Scheduler Queue 166, it may retrieve it and proceedto generate the schedule information as specified.

Data Services 164 may ensure the consistency and availability of data toall content distribution system services. Data may, of course, includecontent data 170, user data 172, schedule data 174, and other pertinentdata. Data Services 164 may serve as the data abstraction layer for dataand provide for the modeling, transformation and transactionalsynchronization of the data within and across services. Data can betransported, persisted, and used in a variety of formats, e.g., XML, andmay be programmatically used by serializing the data into instances ofobjects. Data Services 164 may essentially hide the persistent state ofthe data behind the services, which means that the persistence mechanismcan be changed without impacting the rest of the content distributionsystem.

In various embodiments, data may take a variety of forms. In oneembodiment, a message architecture may be used to manage data throughoutthe entire content distribution system, e.g., from initial entry,storage/persistence, modification, transfer/messaging, to eventualreporting and archival. For example, XML or serial representations ofXML may be used to insure the integrity and safety of data through datapersistence or storage, data transport or transfer, and data usage.Thus, Data Services 164 may transform data from, for example, atransport model into a persisted model (or vice versa), e.g., forstorage by Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Data Services 164 may also ensuretransactional synchronization of data updates.

By implementing certain functionality behind a single set of services,Data Services 164 may provide a single point of access for all read,write, aggregation, and transformation operations. This may ensure thatdata is pulled from the correct secure source and it is interpretedconsistently, and correctly. Without the Data Services 164, many of thecomponents of the content distribution system may directly communicatewith, e.g., an SQL Server, and data integrity and security may becompromised.

Also, implementing a Data Services 164 component may enhancescalability. Typically, databases are easily scaled up (buying fasterand larger host computers), but are not easily scaled out. Thearchitecture 164A of Data Services 164 may provide a scale out approachby providing a single set of Data Services that may be invoked by othercontent distribution system services, as well as a group ofcontent-based Data Access Services 176 that actually interface withcontent databases 178. Thus, as the load on the Data Access Services 176increases, they can be scaled out to multiple machines (and evenclusters), each with their own segment of the databases. This scalingout is more cost effective than scaling up.

Further, this Data Services 164 approach may also provide anon-tableized view of the data. Data Services 164 may befunctionally-based services that ask for or provide large chunks of datathat fit within the model exposed by the data architecture 164A.Therefore Data Services 164 may be oriented towards other servicecomponents. The Data Services 164 may then transform these requests intocalls to the underlying Data Access Services 176 that are more tableoriented and fixed to basic CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete)operations.

Personal Music Library Architecture

In one embodiment, a personal music library application may have atiered architecture as illustrated in FIG. 22. In the embodiment of FIG.22, a data access layer 140 may use Windows Media Player (“WMP”) 147, orsome other suitable content player or media management application, asits primary content query source. The data access layer 140 may queryWMP 147 for audio content currently on, e.g., the user's computer (orother user device). The user may then be allowed to view their libraryand organize it into playlists and stations. The station and playlistinformation may be stored as XML on the local computer.

In one embodiment, the data access layer 140 may query a personalpublishing services component 141 for available perishable content. Auser's perishable content preferences may be stored as XML on the localcomputer. Communication with the personal publishing services componentmay be provided through a remote data access component 142.

The remote data access component 142 may be used to communicate with acontent player services component 143. As discussed above, a contentplayer services component 143 is used to authenticate users and toregister the current IP address and port number of the local computer.

A business process tier 144 may be responsible for applying andproviding business rules to the data and presentation layer, and mayvalidate and format data along with identifying where data is to bestored.

A presentation tier 145 may be responsible for interacting with a user.The presentation tier 145 may be a Multiple-Document Interface (MDI),i.e., there may be one primary windows form that is responsible forhosting other forms. The presentation tier 145 may communicate primarilywith the business process tier 144.

A port listener 146 may be responsible for processing requests fromcontent player services component 143. Content player services 143 maycall the port listener 146 when a content player tries to synchronizeits content. The first call may be to obtain the player's schedule.Subsequent calls may be to obtain audio content from the local computer.

Although the foregoing specific details describe certain embodiments ofthis invention, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes may be made in the details of this invention withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in theappended claims and considering the doctrine of equivalents. Therefore,it should be understood that this invention is not to be limited to thespecific details shown and described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing customized station content to a user, the method comprising: determining, at a content processing system, characteristics of music content to be included in a customized station, wherein the characteristics of the music content are determined based on first user-input from a user of a device coupled to the content processing system via a communication network; determining, at a content processing system, characteristics of perishable content to be included in the customized station, wherein the characteristics of the perishable content are determined based on second user-input from the user via the communication network; establishing, at the content processing system, a schedule including a combination of at least one first time period designated for preferred music content, wherein the preferred music content is selected based on the first user-input, and at least one second time period designated for preferred perishable content, wherein the preferred perishable content is selected based on the second user-input, wherein the schedule reflects a synchronized update based on one or more of the first user-input and the second user-input; delivering the preferred music content to the user using the content processing system; and relying on a third party source device to deliver the preferred perishable content directly to the user.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user input comprises at least one category.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one category includes at least one geographic location category.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one category includes: a first category of perishable content to be obtained from a first geographic location; and a second category of perishable content to be obtained from a second geographic location.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one category includes at least one category specifying original content provided by other users.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferred perishable content is streamed from the third party source to the user.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferred perishable content is downloaded by the user directly from the third party source.
 8. A method of providing customized station content to a user, the method comprising: receiving, at a content processing system, first user-input from a user of a device coupled to the content processing system via a communication network, the first user-input specifying at least one category of music content to be included in a customized station; receiving, at the content processing system, second user-input from the user via the communication network, the second user-input specifying at least one category of perishable content to be included in the customized station; establishing, at the content processing system, a schedule including both preferred music content selected based on the first user-input and preferred perishable content selected based on the second input, wherein the schedule reflects a synchronized update based on one or more of the first user-input and the second user-input; and delivering one of the preferred music content and the preferred perishable content to the first user using the content processing system; and relying on a third party source device to deliver the other of the preferred music content and the preferred perishable content directly to the user.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second user-input further specifies: a first category of perishable content to be obtained from a first geographic location; and a second category of perishable content to be obtained from a second geographic location.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one category of perishable content comprises: a category including original content provided by other users.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second user-input further specifies: a user preference to limit perishable content from the category of perishable content to original content provided by particular users.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the third party source comprises: an out-of-market radio station.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the third party source delivers the preferred perishable content by streaming the preferred perishable content directly to the user.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the third party source delivers the preferred perishable content as part of a download delivered directly to the user.
 15. A server system comprising: a communications interface configured to receive, via a communication network: first user-input specifying characteristics of music content to be included in a customized station; second user-input specifying characteristics of perishable content to be included in the customized station; a processor configured to: establish a schedule including at least one slot designated for preferred music content selected based on the first-user input, and at least one slot designated for preferred perishable content selected based on the second user-input, wherein the schedule reflects a synchronized update based on one or more of the first user-input and the second user-input; deliver one of the preferred music content and the preferred perishable content to the first user; and communicate with a third party source device to cause the third party source device to deliver the other of the preferred music content and the preferred perishable content.
 16. The server of claim 15, wherein the second user input comprises a category specifying original news content provided by other users.
 17. The server of claim 15, wherein the communications interface is configured to deliver the one of the preferred music content and the preferred perishable content to the user by streaming the preferred music content to the user.
 18. The server of claim 15, wherein the second user-input comprises at least one geographic location category.
 19. The server of claim 15, wherein the third party source is configured to deliver the other of the preferred music content and the preferred perishable content to the user by streaming the preferred music content to the user.
 20. The server of claim 15, wherein: the communications interface is configured to deliver the preferred music content by streaming the preferred music content to the user; and the third party source is configured to deliver the preferred perishable content to the user via a download directly to a user device. 